Spontaneous

Zusatztext "Aaron Starmer skillfully welds sharp humor! deep loss! and roaring escapades. Truly the smartest and funniest book about spontaneous combustion you will ever read ." —John Green! #1 bestselling author of  The Fault In Our Stars ? "A blood-soaked! laugh-filled! tear-drenched! endlessly compelling read." — Kirkus ! starred review ? "A wholly original YA tale of identity! friendship! love! lust! and gory! grisly death." — SLJ ! starred review " Bursting with heartache and gore ! Mara’s narration appeals directly to readers’ senses of horror and humor." — Horn Book From the Hardcover edition. Informationen zum Autor Aaron Starmer  is the author of numerous novels for young readers! including  The Only Ones  and  The Riverman . He lives in Vermont with his wife and daughter. You can find Aaron online at @AaronStarmer.   To the ones who feel like it could all come apart at any moment . . .and to the ones who comfort us and keep us together   “Call the death by any name Your Highness will, attribute it to whom you will, or say it might have been prevented how you will. It is the same death eternally—inborn, inbred, engendered in the corrupted humours of the vicious body itself, and that only—Spontaneous Combustion, and none other of all the deaths that can be died.” Charles Dickens, Bleak House   HOW IT STARTED When Katelyn Ogden blew up in third period pre-calc, the janitor probably figured he’d only have to scrub guts off one whiteboard this year. Makes sense. In the past, kids didn’t randomly explode. Not in pre-calc, not at prom, not even in chem lab, where explosions aren’t exactly unheard of. Not one kid. Not one explosion. Ah, the good old days. Katelyn Ogden was a lot of things, but she wasn’t particularly explosive, in any sense of the word. She was wispy, with a pixie cut and a breathy voice. She was a sundress of a person—cute, airy, in-offensive. I didn’t know her well, but I knew her well enough to curse her adorable existence on more than one occasion. I’m not proud of it, but it’s true. Doesn’t mean I wanted her to go out the way she did, or that I wanted her to go out at all, for that matter. Our thoughts aren’t always our feelings; and when they are, they rarely last. On the morning that Katelyn, well, went out , I was sitting two seats behind her. It was September, the first full week of school, an absolute stunner of a day. The windows were open and the faraway drone of a John Deere mixed with the nearby drone of Mr. Mellick philosophizing on factorials. Worried I had coffee breath, I was bent over in my seat, digging through my purse for mints. My POV was therefore limited, and the only parts of Katelyn I saw explode were her legs. Actually, it’s hard to say what I saw. Her legs were there and then they weren’t. Wa-bam! The classroom quaked and my face was suddenly warm and wet. It’s a disgusting way to say it, but it’s the simplest way to say it: Katelyn was a balloon full of fleshy bits. And she popped. You can’t feel much of anything in a moment like that. You certainly can’t analyze the situation. At least not while it’s happening. Later, the image will play over and over in your head, like some demon GIF, like some creeper who slips into your bed every single night, taps you on the shoulder, and says, “Remember me, the worst fucking moment of your life up to this point?” Later, you’ll feel and do a lot of things, but when it’s actually happening, all you can feel is confusion and all you do is react. I bolted upright and my head hit my desk. Mr. Mellick dove behind his chair like a soldier into the trenches. My red-faced classmates sat there in shock for a few moments. Blood dripped down the windows and walls. Then came the screaming...

Product details

• Authors: Aaron Starmer
• Publisher: Dutton Books
• Languages: English
• Age Recommendation: from age 14
• Product format: Paperback
• Released: 31.08.2016
• EAN: 9780399538667
• ISBN: 978-0-399-53866-7
• Subject: Children's and young people's books > Children's books up to 11 years of age